The entrepreneur behind two of Australia’s newest media ventures—the fledgling Global Mail and soon to be launched Guardian Australia website—has called for the development of ‘open journalism’ in a rare interview with RN Breakfast.

Graeme Wood, who made his fortune through travel website Wotif.com, said that in many cases the public ‘probably know more about the story than the journalist does’ and that a new approach to open journalism would help the reach of his media brands grow rapidly in the coming years.

Open journalism includes reporting that seeks ‘input’ from its readers and also looks to ‘develop a conversation’ around its stories, he said. The model would ensure that rich media philanthropists couldn’t be charged with manipulating the agendas of their publications in an increasingly non-for-profit media space, he said.

‘It hasn’t taken off here,’ Mr Wood said. ‘[It] brings a new form of democracy and engagement to people, especially in the online world. Open journalism pretty much guarantees transparency. It means that we’re engaging with the community, that the journalist isn’t the font of all wisdom.’

The Guardian online currently commands around 1.3m Australian readers a month, while the Global Mail, launched in February 2012, attracts a tenth of that figure.

Global Mail 'not in turmoil'

Mr Wood denied that his experiment with the not-for-profit Global Mail had been a failure, but said that he had probably been too ’hands off’ with the management of staff.

‘I could have got in and banged heads together earlier, but I thought I’d let nature take its course,’ he said.

The Global Mail lost its managing editor Monica Attard in May last year, sparking an exodus of three editorial advisors and a board member. In December last year there were several staff departures and redundancies.

The staff upheaval came amid alleged charges of bullying and nepotism. Mr Wood denied the charges calling them a ‘storm in a teacup.’

However, he admitted that mistakes had been made in the launch of the brand, including trying to do too much too quickly and also relying on ‘flaky technology’. The Global Mail initially launched its site with a sideways scrolling text layout that many readers found did not fit their computer screens, and which was dumped after Attard's departure.

Guardian to promote diversity

The soon to be launched Guardian website would have more Australian journalism than currently offered by the newspaper and would continue the media brand's 'long tradition of independence and quality’, Mr Wood said.

‘There’s been a concentration, a lack of diversity, and a reduction in quality, and I think that’s very sad,' he said, discussing the Australian media landscape. 'As cost pressures have come on, media organisations shed journalists, because the business model is broken.’

Mr Wood said the site would be run as a for-profit venture, with a mix of ad revenue and revenue from other side projects. His investment in the brand would be hands off, with no interaction with editorial staff, he said.

The Guardian's Australian editionis mooted to launch later this year under editor Katharine Viner.